DA says he'll wait to charge in shooting

Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster on Thursday explained his reason for not filing charges against a Fort Bragg man who was arrested Saturday on suspicion of shooting a man several times, sending him to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

"Right now, there is not sufficient evidence for me to file charges, and the investigation is ongoing," Eyster said.

Joel David Humecky, 41, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and domestic battery Saturday at an apartment complex on Walnut Street in Fort Bragg after he reportedly ran from the scene of the shooting, which was reported at 5:08 a.m. Nov. 2 when someone told the Sheriff's Office's dispatch center that s/he heard several gunshots and a woman yelling in the 30000 block of Simpson Lane, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office reported previously.

Humecky was held under $505,000 bail at the Mendocino County Jail in Ukiah until just after noon Wednesday, when he was released because the District Attorney's Office had decided not to file charges against him.

Eyster said after looking at the available facts, investigators don't have enough evidence to support an attempted murder case in court.

"I'm still trying to figure out what it' is," Eyster said of the case, and what happened that morning. "The physical evidence creates some confusion."

While there is no doubt that a shooting occurred, he said, the reasons for it are unclear. Investigators had not yet been able to speak to the victim, a 42-year-old Fort Bragg man, who was flown to a Santa Rosa hospital with life-threatening injuries.

"There could be any number of reasons," he said, giving as an example a scenario where the shots were fired in self-defense.

His office is working with the MCSO in the ongoing investigation.

As deputies responded to the Saturday morning call reporting the shooting, the gunshot victim arrived at the hospital and authorities met him there. Also at the hospital was Humecky's girlfriend, who reported that Humecky had attacked her in the 2000 Isuzu Rodeo they in which they were living on private land, and walked away.

She contacted her friend, the 42-year-old man, via cell phone and told him about the attack, and he drove to the area to check on her, according to the MCSO. The woman was alone in the car when he arrived, but Humecky appeared near the Isuzu a short while later.

The woman told police that Humecky shot her friend several times "unprovoked" with a handgun and ran from the scene, according to the MCSO, but not much more was known about what happened between the two men.

The woman drove her friend to the hospital, where he was flown to Santa Rosa with life-threatening injuries. No further information was available Thursday about his condition.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.